Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#36: Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

Rating: E

Players: 1-4

Price Range: ~$76 USD

A 3D platformer.

Now, this is an interesting one...

You see, this is a forgotten title, with some calling it a hidden gem, and again, I can understand why.

Created by Sonic Team, this original game is still an exclusive all these years later, likely because it didn't sell the best, hence its price.

As the game suggests, you play as Billy Hatcher (haha, funny) or his friends and collect eggs and increase their size by rolling over fruits (I guess?), making them more deadly and powerful before hatching them to have a variety of things pop out. These could be a Chicken Elder for the level objective, powerups, extra lives, or even cute animal buddies that can do crazy elemental attacks for the game's puzzles and against enemies.

Graphically colorful and quite fun, this game is relatively simple, but has dazzled me with its charm.

There are even coins to collect in the stages that unlock specific eggs that have new characters to hatch out of, including Sonic the Hedgehog. Really great.

Runs decently, even if the frames cut sometimes, and it overall a very alluring game.

But there are a few criticisms to address.

First of all, the story.

Now, I personally could care less about the plot compared to the gameplay, but all it boils down to is "Oh no! The crows have covered the land of the chickens in darkness because the Chicken Elders can't caw to make the Sun come up!"...That's it. The story is essentially nonexistent.

Some mechanics of the eggs aren't the best. The Super Jump for example requires an egg, but the problem is that you let go of the egg temporarily when you land, so if you just barely get on the ledge, there is a chance that you'll fall and lose your egg and possibly some progress. The only solution I can think of is to Super Jump backwards, which isn't intuitive at all. It is really rough.

Also, the multiplayer is not suited at all for two players as opposed to four. The versus mode for example is made really one-sided as once one player dies, the other can spawn camp them with a larger egg and prevent the one that got down from getting a larger egg. It isn't the best.

But for a new IP by Sega? It is a really cool experiment. Definitely an interesting and lively game that is worth at least trying out, even if it is rough around the edges and is quite uncommon and expensive.